


on a journey of rock and roll

by somethingsintheair



Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Gen, Road Trip, Tour Fic, just bros bonding, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-27 14:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingsintheair/pseuds/somethingsintheair
Summary: The boys are on a 37-hour drive across America to kick off their tour with NSP. However, when the Love Rocket breaks down in The Middle of Nowhere, Utah, they have to put aside their differences and work together to get going again.





	on a journey of rock and roll

A band full of non-human creatures wasn't the easiest to travel with-- not on Earth, anyway. Most other planets already had a variety of species living there, and didn't mind the biological diversity TWRP had. On Earth, however, simply walking down the street was enough to get them plenty of unwanted attention. Public transport was nearly impossible, no matter what method they tried. Buses and trains made for uncomfortable staring matches, taxi rides turned into interrogations. Airport security was an actual, factual nightmare; Their first (and likely last) trip to a terminal nearly got them all sent to prison.

Therefore, they did most of their travel by van. They could keep to themselves without worrying about anyone watching them, except for the occasional glance from a car stopped beside them at a red light. Regardless, it was the better option. This van wasn't just any van, either-- Well... okay, it was a pretty standard and shitty van, but it was special to them, and that's what mattered. It had guided them on many trips across the lovely country of Canada, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy. They called it the Love Rocket, ‘they’ meaning mostly just Sung. Despite its shortcomings, they all treasured it for the good it had done.

On this particular weekend, they were set for their first road trip across the USA to kick off a tour with their human friends from Ninja Sex Party. The drive from Toronto to Los Angeles was about 37 hours without stopping along the way, and some of the more ambitious members of TWRP (pretty much just Sung) wanted to do it just like that.

“Alright, boys, it begins.” Sung announced as they piled into the Love Rocket. “Anyone who feels the need to take a rest stop at any point during the trip has to buy snacks for everyone else.”

He only received eye rolls and groans in reply.

“Oh, don't give me that. We have to be there on time, I don't want any setbacks.”

Of course, his plans were foiled almost immediately. It only took them about two hours of driving for them to stop for gas, and for Sung to realize that they couldn't fit 37 hours' worth of gas in the tank all at once.

Despite that little hiccup, and Sung's complaining every other time they had to stop without also getting snacks, the drive was going pretty smoothly. They drove in alternating shifts of 2-4 hours, depending on who was driving. Sung and Havve rarely needed to rest, so they took their shifts in the longer hours of the night. Phobos, however, usually needed a nap after only a couple hours.

It took all of 30 hours for things to get old, for everyone to get bored with the whole thing. They'd looped through their road trip playlist a few times now, and were really starting to wish they'd invested more time in putting it together. One could only hear 'Groove Is In The Heart' so many times in a day before they got sick of it.

The group was somewhere between Colorado and Utah, on a long stretch of dirt road, rocks, and not much else. Phobos was closing off hour one of his shift, and every now and then, Sung would glance over and catch him dozing off. He'd try to strike up a conversation to keep the guy awake, but Phobos wasn't much of a talker, and Sung was starting to suspect that all the nodding in response only served to make him sleepier.

Sung really started to worry when Phobos wasn't nodding anymore, and decided that desperate times called for desperate measures. He cranked up the stereo, and a particularly noisy Ghost song blasted through the Love Rocket's interior. Just as Phobos jolted awake, Meouch leaned forward to shut the music off.

“I am absolutely _not_ dealing with that for the rest of his drivin’ shift.”

Sung sighed. “Well, it woke him up, did it not?“ he asked. “Phobos, why don't you just let me take over? You didn't get much sleep last night, and I just took a nice nap a little while ago.”

Phobos didn't even respond, the car just rolled to a stop. Which was odd, since he was usually a lot more careful about his driving.

“Hey... buddy?“ Sung raised an eyebrow. “I know there's not really anyone else around here, but shouldn't you pull over anyway? Just to be safe?“

And then they all collectively realized the car was already off. Phobos hadn't moved his hands from the steering wheel, and when he reached down to turn the key in the ignition, nothing happened.

The car was dead silent until Meouch let out a huff. “We forgot to fill the tank again, didn't we?“ he asked. It wouldn't have been the first time they fucked up and left themselves stranded on the road, and Meouch had been smart enough to bring an extra container this time around.

“NO,” Havve chimed in, effectively crushing that tiny sliver of hope. “WE FILLED THE TANK TO ITS FULLEST LESS THAN AN HOUR A GO WHILE YOU TWO SLACKERS WERE NAPPING.”

“Wh-- _slackers?“_ Sung repeated. “This is nearly a 40-hour drive, Havve, what would you like us to be doing all this time? Staring out the window?“

“Okay, but what exactly are we s'posed to do here?“ Meouch asked before Havve could respond. “Not like we can call for help, not like we got _cell phones_ or nothin'.” He shot Sung a very deliberate look.

“Oh, yes, terribly sorry,” Sung said, his tone already dripping with sarcasm, “Let me just stroll into the Earth cell phone store in the middle of the Earth mall, with no legal identification and no knowledge of human technology.” He crossed his arms. “Brian was going to help us with that when we got to LA, remember?“

“Well, that's not gonna help us out here right now, is it?“ Meouch was ready to continue his griping full force until Phobos just stepped out of the car. “Wh... what are you doing there, bud?“ he asked, and received no answer. “Phobos, you know damn well that out of all of us, you're the least likely to make the rest of the trip by foot.”

Only Sung looked offended in Phobos's honor, to which Meouch simply said “What? You know I'm not wrong.”

 _I'm not walking,_ Phobos told them, _I'm not a dumbass. I'm just going to see if I can find anything around us that will help._ He paused. _And Meouch is right, I wouldn't make it very far._

Meouch gave Sung a look, and Sung simply exited the van to meet Phobos. The other half of the band followed suit, and Meouch decided to head for the front of the van. “It's fuckin' hot out here,” he muttered. “Lemme see what I can do before we all burn to death.”

Sung stepped in behind Meouch to peek over his shoulder as he popped the hood. “Do you know about Earth cars, Commander?“ he asked.

Meouch shrugged. “I know ships,” he answered. “Can't be much more complicated than that, can it?“

“Oh, you'd be surprised.” Sung said with a chuckle. “Earth technology is... weird. You should've seen Havve trying to work the toaster the other day.”

“THE TOASTER IS BENEATH ME,” Havve interjected from the side of the van. “IT IS NOT WORTH MY TIME.”

While Meouch worked away and Sung watched on like he knew what was going on, Phobos and Havve just stared out into the empty, empty distance. The ground there sure was flat, but they couldn't find much more than dirt and the occasional cactus. Sung very quickly got bored of watching Meouch fuck around with the engine, and decided to join the others in their search for literally anything around them.

“How far from civilization do you suppose we are?“ Sung asked.

Phobos shrugged. _I haven't seen any buildings for about ten kilometers or so._

“Huh.” Sung nodded. “We could make that walk, don't you think?“

Meouch scoffed as he walked over to join the others. “Walk?“ he asked, “Why don't you ask the guy with the jetpack to go?“

Phobos turned to face Meouch, his head tilted to the side. _I haven't worn a real jetpack since we landed here. This is for display only._

“Yeah, I know that, I was makin' a joke.” Meouch huffed. “Why the fuck do you wear a _display pack,_ anyway?“

_What use would I have for a real jetpack on this planet, other than to cause possible injury to the humans around us?_

“FOR THE RECORD,” Havve interrupted, “I DO NOT REQUIRE SUSTENANCE, NOR WILL I EVER BECOME FATIGUED. MY BATTERY IS SET TO LAST FOR ANOTHER TWENTY-SIX HOURS.”

“Hm… you make a very valid point, Havve,” Sung said. “Do you wanna go, then?“

“Oh, sure, let's send the spiky death robot out to ask for help,” Meouch said, throwing his hands up in the air. “The fuck is a human gonna do when _that_ shows up at their door?“

Havve took a step towards Meouch, but Sung put a protective arm out to block him. “Havve's right,” he said. “He should go.”

“How's he gonna--“

“I'm the only other one who could make the trip quickly,” Sung said, “And I'd like to stay here and keep an eye on the Rocket. Even if he can't speak with humans directly, perhaps he can find a payphone or something and call our friends for help.” He paused. “Does... does Earth still have those? Payphones?“ He looked at his bandmates for an answer, but only received half-hearted shrugs. “Okay, well. I'm sure he'll find something.” He gave Havve a pat on the back. “We'll be waiting for you back here, buddy. Try not to talk to too many humans.”

With that, Havve set off in the direction they came from.

* * *

Havve didn't mind long walks, especially when he got to go by himself, of his own accord. While he didn't totally hate his bandmates' presence as much as he used to (not that he would ever admit that to any of them), he was still a loner at heart. He much preferred the company of himself over anyone else, and that fact was likely never going to change.

Even if the long stretch of road was getting very boring very fast.

He occupied himself by listening to the sounds of the desert-- the whistling of the wind, the scraping of his shoes through the dirt, the occasional insect screeching in the distance. It created a nice vibe, an interesting atmosphere for such a mundane expedition. He noticed the bug screeching had somewhat of a rhythm to it, and out of habit, he started following it with his footsteps.

That did a pretty decent job of passing the time, and before he knew it, he'd reached the end of that long stretch of empty road. When he finally looked up from his shoes, he saw some familiar buildings. It was a pretty old town, and not too busy, which he was incredibly grateful for.

Things were going pretty well, up until he heard a _“Wooooooaaaah!”_ from up ahead, and a small human came running up to him. It was a boy, probably-- Havve hadn't exactly mastered the complex gender system Earth had, whatever the fuck that was all about. Either way, the kid only reached up to about his waist, and looking up at Havve seemed like a real strain on his neck.

“Are you a robot?“ he asked.

Havve just stared at him.

“Can you talk?“

More staring. Talking seemed like a pretty bad idea right about then.

“Are you a superhero?“

That was a new one.

“Or... or…“ The boy gasped. “Are you an _evil_ robot?“

Havve just flickered his eyes in response, and the boy ran away screaming. He decided that, above all, it would probably be best to avoid the children.

He kept on walking in a different direction, and a little faster, since he knew that human children had a tendency to be accompanied by human adults. And after that little incident, he really didn't want to deal with whoever was responsible for that child.

He passed by a few shops, earning plenty of glances from the few people he saw along the way, but thankfully there were no more tiny humans with ridiculous questions. Eventually, he came to another little stretch of road, and was thankful for the absence of people until he suddenly remembered he was supposed to be looking for help.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he came across something far better than a human.

In the middle of his path stood a small, black and white cat, staring up at him with big green eyes.

* * *

As Meouch continued to inspect under the hood, Sung continued to look over his shoulder. Every now and then, he would hum and nod his head, as if he had any sort of clue what he was looking at. Meouch, who would normally be pretty irritated by then, was just trying his best not to pay attention to it. 

Phobos, on the other hand, put up with that for a good ten minutes or so before he decided to intervene.

 _It’s hot,_ he told them, as if that wasn’t already painfully obvious. _We should all drink some water._

Sung perked up, always a slut for proper hydration. “Right, of course!” he said as he wandered over to the side of the van. “I can get the cooler out of the back. Let me just--“ He cut himself off when he realized that the door wasn’t opening. “Um.” He tugged on it again. “Who has the keys?“

Silence.

“...Guys?“

Phobos and Meouch exchanged a glance.

“Havve has the keys, doesn’t he?“

More silence. And then Meouch slammed the hood shut, making Sung jump. “Are you fuckin' serious?“ he growled.

Sung rushed towards Meouch to rest a hand on the hood of the van, stroking it carefully. “Hey, be gentle with her, she’s--“

“Don’t gimme that shit right now,” Meouch snapped. “Hogan’s out on an expidition to fuckin’ nowhere, no one knows when he’s gonna be back. And now, to top everything off, we’re all gonna die ‘a dehydration.”

Sung frowned. “Commander,” he said, “Relax. We’re not going to die of dehydration. Or anything else, for that matter.”

“Oh, and you know what’s even better?“ Meouch continued, as though he wasn’t even listening. “Everyone in Cali’s just gonna be like ‘huh, they are sure takin’ their time gettin’ over here,’ and then they’ll just never hear from us again.”

“Meouch--“

“You know, ‘cause we’ll be dead. Just like this shitty van.”

Sung gasped. That was it. “You take that back!” he yelled, lunging towards Meouch. Luckily, Phobos was quick to step in front of him, setting off some instinct in Sung’s brain to remind him that these were his friends he was dealing with. He stopped just before they made contact.

 _Listen,_ Phobos began, resting his hands on Sung’s shoulder pads. _We shouldn’t waste our time and energy arguing. The only way we’re going to get through this is if we stick together._

Sung closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. And then, a bit reluctantly, Meouch did the same.

“So… how long ‘til Hogan gets back, tops?“ Meouch asked.

“Well,” Sung began, “What was it, 10 kilometers? Havve walks faster than the average man, but it would still likely be around… two hours or so. Round trip, I mean.”

Meouch let out a defeated sigh, and leaned back against the side of the van before he sunk down to sit on the ground. “That’s it,” he said. “We’re gonna die out here.”

Sung and Phobos exchanged a look before Sung sat down beside Meouch. Meouch was too tired to protest when Sung put an arm around his shoulders. “We’re going to be okay,” Sung assured. “All we can do right now is wait for Havve. If he doesn’t come back with anything, we’ll figure something out. We always do, right?“

Meouch’s only response was a huff.

* * *

Havve had been in a staring match with this little cat for a good few minutes now, but neither of them seemed to show any signs of backing down. Sung had always told him it was rude to just stare at other creatures like that, but he didn’t give a fuck about being rude. Sung had also told him not to talk to anyone, so naturally, he decided to strike up a conversation anyway.

“ARE YOU SENTIENT, TINY CREATURE.”

_‘Meow.’_

“WHAT IS YOUR NAME.”

_‘Meow.’_

“ARE YOU OF THIS EARTH.”

_‘Meow.’_

“ARE YOU KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT VEHICLES.”

_‘Meow.’_

“GOOD ENOUGH.”

With that, Havve reached down to give the cat a pat on the head, then scooped it up into his arms. The cat really didn’t seem to mind, just sniffing around Havve’s armor and the spikes on his shoulders.

“YOU ARE GOING TO COME BACK WITH ME,” he said. “MY IDIOT BANDMATES NEED ASSISTANCE.”

* * *

With nowhere to go and nothing to do in the head of the desert, the idiot bandmates in question eventually dozed off against the side of the van. Despite their suits and heavy armor, they knew they would be fine. Meouch was built to survive plenty of sunlight, Phobos was naturally cooler than the others, and Sung’s cone and visor served to protect him from the harsh rays. And with all things considered, that little group nap was probably the most pleasant part of their road trip thus far.

However, it ended rather abruptly with the arrival of their fourth bandmate.

“WAKE UP, MEATSACKS. I HAVE RETURNED.”

All three of them jolted awake, and were quick to distance themselves from the cuddle pile they’d somehow fallen asleep in. They were all a little groggy, so it took them a moment to recall their surroundings, but one of the first things they noticed was the new addition to their party.

Havve was, in fact, holding the small black and white cat.

Sung blinked, rubbing his eyes under his visor. Was this a dream, he wondered, or just some sort of fucked up mirage?

“...Havve.”

“YES.”

“What is that?“

“A CAT.”

“Yes, but... but _why?“_

Havve's eyes flickered. “THE COMMANDER SEEMED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VEHICLE. I ASSUMED IT WAS A TRAIT OF A FELINE NATURE.”

Sung let out a long, deep sigh, but slowly reached out towards the cat. It had a collar with a gold tag on it, which he flipped over in his hand to read. The name _PROF. SANDWICH_ was engraved in it. “Havve, this is… someone’s pet. You can’t just steal a cat that has an owner.”

“WHY NOT. THE CREATURE WAS OUT IN THE OPEN OF ITS OWN FREE WILL.”

At that point, Sung couldn’t help laughing at the sheer absurdity of the situation. “Havve, we have to bring it _back.”_

Meouch, who had spent the duration of the conversation thus far just staring at the cat in disbelief, jumped up rather suddenly. “Wait, fuck,” he said, “The keys.”

Sung gasped and reached up to cover the cat’s ears. Havve turned his head to face Meouch. “WHAT.”

“The keys,” Meouch said, “The keys to the van? We’ve been tryin’ to get in, but you have the keys.”

Havve’s eyes flickered again. “I DO NOT HAVE THE KEYS.”

There was a long pause between the four of them, almost peaceful for a moment, before Meouch lurched towards Havve. Sung and Phobos were quick to grab his arms and stop him, while Havve just angled his body slightly to the left in order to protect the cat.

“Did you not hear what Phobos said about sticking together?“ Sung asked. “We can't just keep fighting over--“

He froze when he heard the distinct sound of a car driving up the road. “Fuck, shit, someone's coming,” he said, dropping Meouch's arm, looking around them to see if he could see the car in question. “Act natural.”

Instinctively, they all stood up straighter, as if that was going to help literally anything. Soon, a bright red convertible with the top off came into view and rolled to a stop beside their van. Its passengers consisted of what appeared to be a human man and woman, both of whom looked pretty amused at the sight before them.

For a moment, the two groups just stared at each other. The man was the first to speak up.

“So, what are you guys, like... the traveling circus?“ he asked.

Sung cleared his throat, ready to speak, not about to let anyone else be the ambassador for their group. “We're a band,” he explained, “Headed off from up North to start a tour. But we got locked out of our, uh... dead van.”

The man raised his eyebrows. “Oh, shit,” he said. He looked over the group until his gaze landed on Havve, as well as the creature in his arms. “And... the cat?“

“Yes,” Sung said, “He's, uh. Our mascot.”

The man exchanged a look with the woman, and they both chuckled before he stepped out of the car. “Do you need some help?“ he asked, “I can take a look, you probably just need a good jumpstart.”

“Yes, please,” Sung said with a nod, “Any help at this point would be wonderful.”

The man stopped on his way to the front of the van to offer Sung a hand. “I'm Mark, by the way,” he said. “Back there is Jenny.”

“Sung,” he introduced, shaking Mark's hand. “This is Meouch, Phobos, and Havve.”

Mark furrowed his brow as he looked at the rest of them, but just chuckled and walked over to pop the hood. “What about the cat?“ he asked, “Does he have a name?“

Sung glanced back. “Yeah, that's Meou--“

“PROFESSOR SANDWICH,” Havve interjected.

“Oh, that's cute,” Mark said with a smile, blissfully unaware of Meouch giving Sung a punch in the shoulder. “It definitely looks like a jumpstart will help,” he continued. “I've got some cables, if you wanna give it a try.”

Meouch raised an eyebrow at Sung, trying to convey his suspicions about the human, but Sung didn't even notice. “Sure!”

Mark went back to his own car, into the trunk, presumably to search for the cables in question. Meanwhile, Jenny was still sitting in the car, staring back at them.

“So... what are you supposed to be, exactly?“ she asked, “Robots? Aliens?“

Sung opened his mouth and lifted a finger, and Meouch could tell he was about to say something stupid, so he stepped in to stop that real quick. “Yeah, yeah, somehin' like that,” he said, “It's a whole sci-fi thing we've got goin' on. You know, we tell people we're from the future n' stuff.”

“Huh.” Jenny smiled. “Sounds fun. I bet you guys put on a great show.”

“We'll be coming back around here on our tour!” Sung said before Meouch could stop him. “We're called T-W-R-P.”

“Like... _twerp?“_ Mark walked back to the front of the van, jumper cables in hand. “Or does it stand for something?“

“Nope,” Meouch interjected before Sung could, “Just some letters.”

“That's some band name,” Mark said with a chuckle. He attached one end of each cable to something under the hood, then went over to pop the hood of his own car and attach the other ends. Jenny hopped over to the driver's seat to start up the car. “Alright, now we just give it a minute and see if it works.”

“Well, thank you very much,” Sung said, glancing between the two vehicles, not quite sure what he was actually witnessing.

“Any advice on gettin' back into the van, though?“ Meouch asked. “Someone left our keys in there, apparently.”

“Oh, right.” Mark laughed as he walked back over to the van. “Man, today is just not your day, is it?“

“Evidently not,” Meouch muttered.

“But you've got one of the easy ones,” Mark said, peering into the passenger side window. “Anyone got a shoelace I can borrow?“

Sung blinked, even more confused now. Was this some sort of strange human custom he wasn't aware of? He definitely didn't want to be rude, especially not to such a helpful person, so he knelt down to unlace his sneaker and hand it over.

The four of them watched, bewildered, as Mark did his thing. He held the shoelace out straight and shimmied it in through the space between the window and the door frame. With precision and an oddly practiced ease, he managed to hook the lace under the lock and pull it upward.

“There we go,” he said. He grinned at the band, looking quite proud of himself as he gave Sung’s shoelace back. “I'm afraid that's as far as my help can go, but if that jumpstart doesn't work out for you, I don't know what will.”

While he detached the cables, all the band could really do was stare at him in shock. He packed the cables back into his trunk and took a seat beside Jenny before he waved a little to get their attention. “So, you guys are good?“ he asked.

“Uh... yeah!” Sung said with a quick nod, fidgeting with the shoelace. “Yes. Thank you so much.”

“No problem,” Mark said with a smile. “We've got a long road ahead of us, so we've gotta get going. Does your stuff make good driving music?“

Sung looked to his bandmates, as if that was a question they'd somehow be able to answer any better than he could. “Uh, yeah? Yeah, I'd say so.”

“Cool, we'll check it out,” Mark replied. “Have a safe rest of your trip!”

Jenny waved to them before she drove off, and, still dumbfounded, the band waved back. But the moment the humans were out of sight, they all scrambled to get into the car at once-- except for Havve, who just stood and held onto the surprisingly calm cat. Sung managed to crawl in first and unlock the rest of the doors, and thus, another frantic search for the van keys began.

They searched the floor, under the seats, between the folds of the seats, the glove compartment, even the very back of the van, but... nothing. No keys in sight.

“Anything?“ Meouch asked as he looked to Sung and Phobos, who both shook their heads. They let out a collective sigh and kept looking, despite the very limited places left where the keys would actually be.

Sung eventually just groaned in frustration and climbed out of the car. “Hold on, my shoe's falling off like this,” he muttered, and knelt down on the ground to start replacing his shoelace.

“I don't... I don't understand,” Meouch said, checking the glove compartment for maybe the eighth time. He started emptying everything out of it and placing it on the floor-- sunglasses, papers, snacks, _melted_ snacks. Needless to say, it wasn't looking pretty. “Did they just vanish into oblivion, or what?“

“While it's pretty unlikely, that's what I'm starting to think,” Sung replied.

“Does anyone know how to hotwire a car?“ Meouch asked. “'Cause that's about where I'm at right now.”

 _I thought that's something you would know, Mr. Mechanic,_ Phobos said from the back of the van, and Meouch just gave him a look.

“Listen, at this point, we might as well just ditch the van and take the walk back to town together,” Meouch said. “Doc, you're better at talkin' to people than any of us. We can find a phone or somethin'. And Hogan's gotta put that fuckin' cat back where he found it, anyway.”

“THE PROFESSOR DOES NOT SEEM TO MIND HIS PRESENCE HERE,” Havve responded. “I PROPOSE WE BRING HIM ON TOUR WITH US.”

“Havve, we _can't,"_ Sung said, letting out a little laugh. However, the brief amusement was quickly overshadowed by stress. “I just... I don't understand,” he said as he tied off his shoe. “We all got out, I took the keys out of the ignition, and I--“ He froze in place, halfway standing, and went silent.

Meouch frowned. “What?“ he asked, “Do you know where they are?“

Despite the urgency in Meouch's tone, Sung stood up very slowly. Then, he shook his leg. And then shook it a little harder. All four of them could hear the distinct sound of keys jingling on his person. Sung reached down, unzipped his thigh pouch, and pulled out the set of keys-- keytar keychain and all.

“...Huh.”

For a moment, all was silent. Meouch was the first one to move, reaching out of the van door and swiping the keys from Sung's hand. “Let's go,” he grumbled, buckling his seatbelt in the driver's seat. “I'm takin' the first shift. We're turning around, goin' back to wherever Hogan found that fuckin' cat, and then we're going to LA to buy some _goddamn cell phones."_

Sung lowered his head before he did a little walk of shame to the passenger's side of the car. Havve joined Phobos in the back, the Professor in tow, still snuggled up in his arms.

The first ten minutes or so of the ride back were dead silent, save for a gentle purring from the back seat. Meouch eventually reached over to turn the car's stereo back on, turning the volume up a bit. Shortly after the Ghost song ended, another began.

_The bond of friendship we share like brothers..._

Sung couldn't help but smile. “Oh, would you look at that,” he said, “How appropriate, right? It must be a sign, a metaphor for the trials and tribulations we've been through together. Today was just another step, another milestone on our journey as rock n’ roll best friends. It's kind of beautiful, don't you think?“ He turned his head to look towards the backseat. “I love you guys.”

Meouch squinted when Sung looked back at him.

“And _you_ told me to stop putting our own music on our road trip playlists.”

Without a word, Meouch turned the radio off.


End file.
